• Electoral bonds: Election Commission releases data, check details

    National
    Electoral bonds: Election Commission releases data, check details
    BJP is the largest beneficiary with a total of Rs 6,986.5 crore received since the introduction of electoral bonds in 2018...

    Digital Desk: Following a Supreme Court order to make the data public, the Election Commission of India disclosed data on electoral bonds that it had received from political parties in sealed covers. It is thought that these specifics relate to the time frame preceding April 12, 2019. 

    According to data from the Election Commission, Future Gaming and Hotel Services, the largest buyer of electoral bonds, gave Rs 509 crore to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the ruling party in Tamil Nadu, using the now-scrapped payment method, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre received the most funds through these bonds, totaling Rs 6,986.5 crore since they were introduced in 2018.

    Included in the data dump released by the EC on the orders of the Supreme Court is the revelation of 523 recognized and non-recognized political parties. The State Bank of India (SBI), the only bank permitted to sell and redeem electoral bonds, provided the data for another dataset that was released by the poll panel last week.

    Key facts from election panel data regarding electoral bonds 

     1. The DMK revealed that Future Gaming provided more than 77% of the Rs 656.5 crore electoral bond receipts. Future Gaming is connected to Santiago Martin and is being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate.
     
    2. Because the majority of political parties do not provide complete donor information, the recipients of the remaining Rs 859 crore worth of bonds that Future Gaming purchased are still unknown. 

     3. With a total of Rs 6,986.5 crore received since the introduction of electoral bonds in 2018, the BJP is the largest beneficiary. 

     4. The most recent statistics from the poll commission show that the Trinamool Congress of West Bengal comes in second with Rs 1,397 crore, followed by the Congress with Rs 1,334 crore and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi with Rs 1,322 crore.

    5. The DMK collected Rs 656.5 crore, the YSR Congress of Andhra Pradesh received almost Rs 442.8 crore, and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) of Odisha comes in fifth place with Rs 944.5 crore. 

     6. Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party revealed receipt of a total of Rs 10.84 crore in donations, comprising 10 bonds valued at Rs 10 crore that were sent "by post" and anonymously. 

    7. Although the DMK has made donor identities public, significant political parties like the BJP, Congress, and TMC have not fully provided the EC with this information, which is now available to the public as a result of a Supreme Court ruling.

    8. Using bonds totaling Rs 181.35 crore, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Shiv Sena (Rs 130.38 crore), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) (Rs 56 crore), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) (Rs 50.51 crore), Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (Rs 15.5 crore), Samajwadi Party (SP) (Rs 14.05 crore), Akali Dal (Rs 7.26 crore), AIADMK (Rs 6.05 crore), National Conference (NC) (RS 50 lakh from the Bharti Group), and Sikkim Democratic Front (Rs 50 lakh) all redeemed their bonds.

     9. SBI's records show that the bank got Rs 65.45 crore, while the AAP did not offer a total gift amount. AAP has collected a total of Rs 69 crore after deducting an additional Rs 3.55 crore after registering with the EC.

    10. Scanned copies of hundreds of pages of political party filings are included in the most recent data collection made public by the EC.